Replacing Radius Bushings ?

[smtcapecod]

by the book, sortof

you don't have to cut off those rivets. that is just ridiculous to me. all you have to do is disconnect the lower shock mount and sway bar. you don't have to loosen the axle pivot brackets or any of that. maybe i'll go yank the ones off my old truck today so i can do a photo writeup.....

Did you loosen sway bar at end links or frame? How about the spring?
Photo writeup would be great!

 

[manaen]

Did you loosen sway bar at end links or frame? How about the spring?
Photo writeup would be great!

just remove the bolt from the end link on the side your working on. If you find that the spring is not dropping down it may help to loosen the clamp so you can get the spring unhooked from the upper spring clips. Usually I could get mine to drop. However it may also be easier for you to work without the spring there and it only takes a few minutes to remove the lower clamp and get the spring out of the way.

Photo writup, I think there is one somewhere here...

 

[Dre]

funny as you guys talk about removing bracket or not I just heard that same story on another forum... you don't have to remove the bracket to get new RA bushings... but if you do it's OK to use bolts to attach bracket back.

As with all the other components on my truck lift brackets, axle drop brackets are all attached with bolts now... grade 8

and for those guys that don't believe bolts are as strong as rivets:

Ford has attached left side axle drop bracket (factory) with bolts and the right one with rivets - go figure!

good luck!

 

[smtcapecod]

Sorry for the add-on questions but ...Is there enough movement in the driveshaft, or does that need to be disconnected too? Mine appears to be pretty much fused into one ball of rust, and I'd rather not mess with it unless/until it fails.

Course going this route means I'm hosed if the brackets are fubar'd as well...but it seems preferable to me. I read about one person using a sawzall rather than drill/grinder, that also makes sense to me if I have to get the rivets out in the end- have others found it slower or tough to maneuver?

just remove the bolt from the end link on the side your working on. If you find that the spring is not dropping down it may help to loosen the clamp so you can get the spring unhooked from the upper spring clips. Usually I could get mine to drop. However it may also be easier for you to work without the spring there and it only takes a few minutes to remove the lower clamp and get the spring out of the way.

Photo writup, I think there is one somewhere here...

 

[Dre]

you don't have to worry about the drive shaft... slip yoke will take care of the movement - if at all it might just pop-out... but then you can put it back in again.

 

[manaen]

I never had any problems with the shafts on 3 different truck replacements

 

[dzjammer]

would anyone believe I did this project by myself without taking a tire off or jacking it up? the only nut I took off was the one on the radius arm. 2 come-alongs and a floor jack to help realign it during assembly. 1 hour

 

[manaen]

would anyone believe I did this project by myself without taking a tire off or jacking it up? the only nut I took off was the one on the radius arm. 2 come-alongs and a floor jack to help realign it during assembly. 1 hour

that's a lot of stress on the suspension with the weight of the vehicle sitting on it. Glad it worked out for you, I would recommend this approach

EDIT: I meant to say I would NOT recomend this approach, stupid typos

 

[smtcapecod]

Well, got nut off of driver's side RAB, loosened the coil spring retaining bolt and sway bar links, didn't get as far as tugging or replacement of bushings/ball joints yet.
Couldn't get socket on pass side RAB nut, even after jacking up front axle.

Interestingly, my front diff fluid is spilling out somewhere. I assume axle seal on driver's side, but not sure. Nice development, happened out-of-the-blue after jacking it. No idea what I'm facing there yet.
Also found pass hub is probably junk.

Now, where does this extra washer/shim that I've read about get placed?

 

[DeRocha]

...Now, where does this extra washer/shim that I've read about get placed?

The washers are the 1st & 2nd components installed on the radius arm (closest towards the front of the vehicle)

 

[OgreOwner]

My experience with radius arm bushings.

My '92 explorer has been pulling a tad to the right for a long time. I thought it was tires or alignment. Pep Boys demonstrated to me that it was the Radius Arm bushings.

I purchased new bushings at Checker Auto, then after coming here and searching all over the place got the Moog heat shield. Had to go several places to get the 28 mm socket. I have a 36" 1/2 inch drive breaker bar which made getting things loose reasonably easy.

I jacked up the front and supported it on 6 ton Jack Stands - big ones behind the area where I was going to be working. The vehicle was at about a 20 degree angle.

The passenger side did not have rivets. The shaft had worn into the metal of the bracket so it had to be replaced. A local suspension shop had a new MOOG bracket for $34, but they did not have the drivers side in stock.

The drivers side did have two rivits, which I torched off with my mini oxy-acetelene rig. One hole came out clean and the other grew a bit - I used washers on both sides of the bracket on all bolt locations.

I got Grade 8 bolts at Lowes with 2 washers and a lockwasher for each position. I fished the bolts in so that the head is inside the channel and the nut and lock washer are outside the channel. That means that the fuel filter only has to deal with the head of the bolt.

I turned the old front washer around and put it on so that I have two washers on the front.

Torqued things up and ...

After about 6 hours of grunting, including a trip to the parts store to get the new bracket and my Exploder now has brand new radius arm bushings.

I used the $258 that I saved by not paying Pep Boys to do it to buy some new toys from Harbor Freight.

The idea of pulling off the tire, spring and shock then stressing something to move the arm back far enough did not appeal to me. Now I have a setup where I can change those bushings in, I estimate, about an hour.

I have resolved to do a heavy duty maintenance in August rather than do it in December...

Karl

 

[smtcapecod]

argh

And once again I re-learn the lesson to listen to the majority expressing opinions based on experience....For some reason I had it in my head that there were three rivets with one tucked way up in the hinterlands...I ougtta pay closer attention. The two look ready to fall victim to sawzall!

Have ONE RAB in. First, the Moog washers are thicker by about a third (I didn't mic it) than OEM....Installing two was a no-go. Second, I had to use a comealong to pull axle forward even wtih shock, spring, tie rods all disconnected. THEN, I had to use it to pull the RA inboard to get into the bracket. THEN!!! I had to use it to pull the RA rearward to seat the busing and give enough clearance to start the nut-- with one washer, needless to say the first run installing two washers had to be reversed as the nut wouldn't thread.
Pass side and balljoints tomorrow. At least, as darkness fell, I decided I needed some measure of accomplishment so I got the transfer case fluid changed out in about 5 min...it was awful dark!
Still worried about my front diff fluid running out

 

[kaneda_77]

I could have NEVER done this without the help of the how-to here. Thanks to all of you who contributed! Even with all the help, it was still a PITA! lol. But well worth the money I saved. There really wasn't any rubber there when I bought it, thank god I replaced it.

 

[gsmaclean]

People seem to have all kinds of problems with getting the rivets out. I hear of people drilling them, cutting them with a torch, sawzall, and more.

Listen people, go to Harbor Freight, spend $9 and buy an air chisel. It took me about 5 seconds to chisel off the head of each rivet, and another 5 seconds (using a punch on the air chisel) to drive the rest of each rivet out. Simple and effortless.

The hardest part of the job for me was loosening the huge radius arm bolts. Even with a 36 inch breaker bar, I couldn't get them to budge until I heated them up good and hot with a torch.